State of things and moving forward

Here is the remaining collection of posts I intended to make. At some point, I simply lost interest. Small chance of me posting certain ones (especially if they support my case against the series/webnovel). Large chance I’ll make a certain “Tsukimichi is Japanese Imperial Propaganda” post. If you’re wondering, just wait ‘til you get to Lorel in Arc 5.

Will I post other things, though?

Most likely. Some related to isms in anime, manga, and whatnot. Hell, I'm tempted to do a post showing examples of sexism in beast races (The Eminence in Shadow) and racism in dark-skinned characters (fuckin' Bleach) throughout anime. The former's so glaringly obvious that I wonder if it even needs to be pointed out. Then again... 🙄

Now's a good time to just flat out say that I dropped Bleach TYBW because of how awfully it portrayed its dark-skinned (and blatantly African descended) characters. It was racist. Shit's just racist, y'all. Do not defend.

In short

Life's too short. So I'll do what I please when I please. Don't like what I do? Block me and move on.

edit: where it started: The Racial Problem in Tsukimichi (and why I left the subreddit)

genuinely there's just Something about yoshiya nobuko's early writing, to me. the ornate descriptions that border on or cross over into the ridiculous. the fragmented sentences. the absolute refusal to moderate emotion, a world where everything is experienced by the characters at a level eleven out of ten. of course there is also the lesbianism but i have a special affection for the hanamonogatari flavor of it which is essentially a wrestling with silence and with a barrier between changes of phase (girlhood to adult womanhood, ordinary friends to physical lovers, etc) that is impossible to cross successfully but which nevertheless demands the attempt. and that is such an interesting thing for yoshiya nobuko to wrestle with, when she had no trouble crossing such barriers herself and the only one that remained beyond her was legal gay marriage.....i really need to spend some time with her later fiction, that deals wholly with a "female friendship" that doesn't interfere with heterosexuality, and see if it loses or gains in the exchange.

女流美術家奉公隊

- 大東亜戦皇国婦女皆働之図（春夏の部）/ 福岡・筥崎宮

- 大東亜戦皇国婦女皆働之図（秋冬の部)  / 靖国神社・遊就館

1944

“DOMINION'S AIR CREWS HELPED TO DEAL BLOW ON JAPS AT COLOMBO,” Toronto Star. April 10, 1942. Page 38. ---- Nipponese Planes Sink 22-Year-Old Aircraft Carrier Hermes Off Ceylon, But Most of Crew Believed in London to Have Been Saved ---- BRITISH FLIERS DAMAGE JAP CARRIER AND COUNT 18 FOE PLANES SHOT DOWN ---- H.M. AIRCRAFT CARRIER HERMES ---- London, April 10 - Canadian air crews are manning huge flying boats over the Bay of Bengal and already have performed heroic service against the Japanese, it was learned today. 

"They have played an exceptionally important and heroic part in recent air operations against the enemy," the air minister said. 

It was a Canadian air crew that played a primary role in the disastrous defeat dealt Japanese bombing squadrons in the enemy attack on Colombo, Ceylon, last Sunday, the air ministry revealed. 

At the same time the admiralty announced that Japanese planes have sunk the 22-year-old, 10,850-ton aircraft carrier Hermes off the coast of Ceylon, and that British fliers materially damaged a Japanese aircraft carrier and knocked down 18 planes in the same waters.

One informed source said the attacks in which the Hermes, Dorsetshire and Cornwall were sent to the bottom cost the Japanese fully 75 planes. He said the Hermes was sunk by bombs, not plane-launched torpedoes.

A Canadian-manned aircraft first spotted the Japanese bomber fleet headed for Colombo and "hence was instrumental in thwarting the attack," said an air ministry spokesman.

The reconnaissance crew flashed word enabling the city to prepare for the raid, with the result that a large portion of the 75 enemy aircraft were destroyed for certain. The admiralty said that Japanese claims of cruisers in addition to the Cornwall and Dorsetshire sunk off Trincomalee were known to be "quite untrue."

[AL: This is very slanted reporting, as we should expect war reporting. Colombo was not a disastrous defeat and the Japanese airplane losses were very low - Hermes was caught with its planes on deck, for one. A disastrous loss for sure.]

Quick question im genuinely curious about this: why do you Hate the certain franchises that you listed with asterisks? This Is a genuine question no Hate whatsoever

do you want the list numbered or bulleted

I've complained about this before but the biggest problem with Ikémen vampire is just the main conflict just doesn't freaking work. It's an idea that's really easy to be opinionated about but they don't allow the character to be opinionated cause she needs to be easy to insert yourself. So they say their big piece about whatever and I can't argue at all. So annoying.

if atla was released today, conservatives would call it woke communist propaganda for suggesting that genocide is super uncool, and liberals would insist the show is pro colonization and pro war bc it shows zuko, a colonizer, being forgiven for his actions and becoming a hero and that's disgusting apologism.

on the latter point, people would also be bringing up imperial Japanese war crimes and saying oh you like zuko? so you support unit 731?? when you talk about atla, why don't you also talk about the rape of nanking?

I'm going to dox you for having a zuko profile. you clearly deserve it.

The thing is, the Western superpowers NEED the people divided. Division leads war, displacement, economic collapse, forced assimilation— repercussions that generate income for the overarching hegemony. Division is their backbone. This is why any act of unity in history has been retroactively distorted to brainwash us into thinking there is no alternative to Capitalism. The United States attempted to physically divide Vietnam in the US attempted- intervention on Vietnam, and successfully divided Korea shortly after the nation’s liberation from brutal Japanese occupation.

You can read about the ongoing Korean War here, and see a timeline here.

North Korea has been systematically demonised for being one of the few successful modern Socialist states; for the crime of liberation. They are a demonstration of what anti-Capitalism looks like, and yet we are barred from witnessing that with our own eyes. The Western propaganda machine works at maximum capacity to ensure the masses are deluded into believing North Korea is an evil, oppressive regime, a corrupt government that abuses and oppresses its people— whilst homelessness is at an all time high in the United States and Western nations, with an extortionate cost of living, inaccessible health care and rampant medical negligence, Not to mention, police brutality, Neo-Nazism (like, Western-funded Ukraine’s historic complicity with Nazism) anti-Trans laws that lead to murders of Trans people, and the Western Israeli Regime’s support in multiple genocides across the globe (Mayan, Tamil, Rwanda and of course, Palestine). Not to mention, North Korea has had unwavering support for Palestine

The West has been lying to us for years about China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Palestine, Iran and so many more nations to mask their deadly Imperial ambitions, money-hungry forceful acquisition of oil and resources, and further imposition of globalised White Supremacy. We, the people, suffer at the hands of our very nations that copiously delude us into thinking there’s no way out, there’s no alternative, there’s no hope.

We implore you learn more about North Korea, and will be adding more resources to our Drive, linked in our link tree. Here’s some more resources on Korea:

Nodutdol 노둣돌 is an excellent pro-Palestinian organisation of diasporic Koreans organising for a world free of Imperialism, and for the reunification of Korea. Check out their page, and website, to keep up to date on their events, organising and get more information on what the West try to hide.

We also recommend this excellent documentary:

(a/n: no curses, mentions of dick?)

shogun!ryomen sukuna who earns his title after defeating the great minamoto yoritomo. despite being a nobody from a know-nothing clan, sukuna manages to manipulate quarrels between the recent shogunate and the imperial court with his assertive attitude and impressive rhetoric. it isn’t easy though. yoritomo is cold and cunning and wise beyond his years, but it takes one to know one. after many heated debates, sukuna successfully ostracizes yoritomo in a period of stalemate and assumes the title of shogun.

shogun!ryomen sukuna who defeats the remaining imperial forces and achieves complete control over the country, effectively reducing the emperor’s family to nothing more than a symbol of sovereignty. although he tells the population that the shogunate is lower in status, it’s nothing more than political propaganda. the shogun possesses more power in all facets of japanese society, from trade to judicial functions. in addition, sukuna sells lands to samurai who fought fiercely in the genpei war to garner more support.

shogun!ryomen sukuna who rules with an iron fist. although most of his attendants once belonged to yoritomo, they nearly snap their necks at how fast they bow in sukuna’s direction out of unshakeable fear. he simply exudes raw strength and power in billowing waves, responding to insolence with crushed skulls and mangled figures. his standards are just as stringent, often relegating people deemed “too inferior” for their positions. attendants like to gossip among themselves over where a man like him came from. 

shogun!ryomen sukuna who realizes that an heir is necessary to continue his shogunal reign because unfortunately for him, he’s not immortal. he considers letting a random clan assume the role after his death, thinking that the momentary uproar is enough to satisfy his twisted humor, before realizing that he likes power too much to let it go so easily. plus, now that his subordinates are completely obedient to him, sukuna finds himself bored. and that simply won’t do.

shogun!ryomen sukuna who demands every single family to send a daughter to his estate for choosing. the order alone leaves fathers outraged and mothers crying, but resistance to the shogun is a crime punishable by death, so families concede to his demand with tear-stained cheeks. normally, sukuna isn’t picky with bedding women so long as they’re a good fuck, but now that he plans to create an heir with one, he refrains from sticking his dick anywhere he wants. he needs to play his cards right.

shogun!ryomen sukuna who purchases you with nothing more than a handful of copper and two horses. although there are other beautiful maidens with talents that surely surpass yours, there’s a steely edge in your expression that reveals the contempt that simmers deep in the pit of your stomach. it’s a fierce spirit that challenges his own, the kind of spirit that he wants to snuff out. it thrills him to no end. the decision shocks his attendants, but they don’t dare to disobey when sukuna orders them to fetch your parents.

(masterlist) | (a/n: will prob make a taglist for p2)

Ukraine to me has been really eye-opening about the problems with Americentric understandings of race. Ukraine is currently facing genocide in the name of Russian imperialism and there's a long history of Russian imperialism in Eastern Europe, but most Americans I've seen on here EXCEPT for ones with ancestry from Eastern Europe seem to not get this, and can't see it this way because they're two groups who in America are "white." Even POC, I've seen plenty of fellow POC as well as white people falling for tankie pro-Russian propaganda on here. I saw someone I used to look up to as an anti-racist person in my fandom who is POC and has been outspoken about fandom racism and frames herself as "anti-imperialist" but dismissed concern about Ukraine with "it's hard to care as POC and colonized people because of how liberals talk about it." Ukrainians are colonized people! I lost so much respect for that person in that moment. How much do you actually care about imperialism if "liberals" being concerned about it causes you to dismiss it? It really makes it clear a lot of these people can't see beyond "whites are oppressors, POC are oppressed" and don't know how to handle it when both groups are in one of those. I'm not sure how they would ever make sense of Japanese or Ottoman imperialism. Or for that matter, China's genocide of Uighurs.

--

Memoranda written in 1930s Imperial Japan proposed settling Jewish refugees escaping Nazi-occupied Europe in Japanese-controlled territory. As interpreted by Marvin Tokayer and Swartz (who used the term "Fugu Plan", "河豚計画", that was used by the Japanese to describe this plan), they proposed that large numbers of Jewish refugees should be encouraged to settle in Manchukuo or Japan-occupied Shanghai,[1] thus gaining the benefit of the supposed economic prowess of the Jews and also convincing the United States, and specifically American Jewry, to grant political favor and economic investment into Japan. The idea was partly based on the acceptance of [the forged antisemitic propaganda screed] The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as being a genuine document by at least part of the Japanese leadership.[2][...]

The Japanese officials asked to approve the plan insisted that while the settlements could appear autonomous, controls needed to be placed to keep the Jews under surveillance. It was feared that the Jews might somehow penetrate into the mainstream Japanese government and economy, influencing or taking command of it in the same way that they, according to the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion, had done in many other countries. The world Jewish community was to fund the settlements and supply the settlers.[...]

Japanese approval came as early as December 1918, when the Shanghai Zionist Association received a message endorsing the government's "pleasure of having learned of the advent desire of the Zionists to establish in Palestine a National Jewish Homeland". It indicated that, "Japan will accord its sympathy to the realization of your [Zionist] aspirations."[23][...]

Post-war, the 1952 recognition of full diplomatic relations with Israel by the Japanese government was a breakthrough amongst Asian nations.

@maelor321

There's an answer for that, and it ties into how Edelgard is supposed to be a tyrant.

Edelgard convinced Count Bergliez to join her, under the promise of awarding him control over the Alliance territories according to Flower. As Minister of Military Affairs, Caspapa is said to control all armies in the Empire that are not under the direct control of the Emperor and is said to be a man who inspires great loyalty in his troops. As such, the armies that the other nobles may have could turn on them when he says to join Edelgard. From what we know, Edelgard was able to bring the corrupt nobility of the Empire to heel (minus Caspapa) likely because of this, and from there arrested any who didn't support her, stripping them of their power, lands and titles while telling the rest they can keep theirs if they support her. And, of course, the commoners are conscripted to fight with those who resist put to death.

This is what the devs her path leading to hadou, the path of supremacy or military rule, means.

We also have Hubert doing Hubert things, having even people Edelgard says to spare assassinated in his supports. This continues on into his endings, where he's said to put down any threat to her from the shadows which the Englist team translated as him putting down rebellions post-war.

It's noted though that this isn't enough to maintain order over all of Fodlan. Edelgard pledges to continue to work with Thales post-war until things calm down, that conversation hinting at something that was actually downplayed in the translation. Post-war, according to Caspar's endings, the Imperial army begins military expeditions which means (since the military is very precise with it's wording) they are conducting missions in those countries. It's considered a form of invasion, and what's worse is that the Japanese doesn't say they are "sometimes reckless" like the English does. It's "often out of control." And circling back to TWSITD for a second, the Byleth/Constance ending reveals that they pilfer Agarthan magic techniques (aka blood Magic) and technologies during the shadow war and use it to maintain the "peace" of Edelgard's rule. Meanwhile, the Empire takes over the Church of Seiros, restoring it in such a manner that Mercedes refuses to join it (instead, she looks after those hurt by the war in defiance of Edelgard's ideals). And then there's the propaganda.

Edelgard's path isn't the hardest outside of ignoring the red flags. She just says it is.

if u follow me and are not aware u are REQUIREDDDD to learn abt japanese imperialism and their "rebrand" into kawaii desu soft sugoi mochi anime land and the way they continually refuse to acknowledge their war crimes and give their victims reparations while also spreading revisionist propaganda both in schools and in media . Do it for me.

““Corregidor Surrender”— Japs,” Kingston Whig-Standard.  June 17, 1942. Page 11. ---- According to the Japanese caption on the above photo radioed to Buenos Aires for its propaganda effect, U.S. soldiers are emerging from an underground passage on Corregidor after surrender of the fort to the Japanese May 6. (NEA Radiophoto)

From what I've heard, Japanese otaku don't really have the best view of Western fans. They hate how they're accused of having shit taste whenever they aren't on the same page as the West, like how they like Fates, nor do they like Western fans and critics spelling out how to change the show to make it appeal to the like removing fanservice or saying a story failed it's female characters.

Oh, so it's a fan vs fan thing?

I guess every fandom has its own preferences so it was bound to create some frictions, and in a way it's kind of normal?

Granted, I remember early in 2019 some kinds of generalisations who were borderline racist, about JP people valuing less "individuality" thus not like Tru Piss but prefering order, as opposed to """"the"""" West...

weird how this nonsense is always brought up to prop a certain route lol

I get the removing face petting stuff - which was... not something, at least from what I know here in France, is pretty common in our vg (the mainstream ones, not the ones you're supposed to play with your left hand!) but I still think there's a difference between removing an optional mini-game, and trying to edit the, albeit as cloudy as ginger ale, message of a game and whitewash imperialism (seriously, was there any reason to nuke the "information campaign" line from the original script in the lolcalised one? Bar wanting to make Adrestia not look like... a state that lies and uses propaganda to justify/start a war of conquest?).

Since QV is talking about the groom from the Nogi shrine wedding again, here's a summary of relevant info:

Aside from the Yasukuni shrine related smears, ZZH was also accused of attending a wedding held in a "politically sensitive" shrine with "far right-wing Japanese nationalists" in attendance as wedding guests.

Is the Nogi shrine really politically-sensitive?

Not nearly as much as the slimeballs behind 813 want people to think. The shrine was dedicated to a Japanese commander called Nogi Maresuke who was involved in the Battle of Lushunkou in the First Sino-Japanese war. According to his Baidu page, he was the head commander of the battle and was the mastermind behind the Lushunkou massacre which took place right after. But all of that is actually incorrect. The real head commander was an entirely different person, a man called Oyama Iwao. Nogi was only the leader of the 1st Infantry Brigade and was under the command of Lieutenant General Yamaji Motogaru, who was in turn under the command of Oyama Iwao. And furthermore, before the battle of Lushunkou ended, Nogi was commanded to head up north to reinforce Jinzhou, so he wasn't even present when the the massacre happened.

So what happened here was that all that false information was edited into Nogi Maresuke's Baidu page on the evening of August 12. And the Nogi shrine's Baidu page did not exist at all before all of this and was only created at the same time Nogi Maresuke's page was edited. So when all the smears dropped and people went to Baidu to do some research, this is what they all saw. Before this, the Nogi shrine was only really known in China for one thing: it was a popular wedding venue.

Were there really far right-wing nationalists in the wedding?

One of these so-called right wing nationalists was an older male wedding guest who people claimed was Motoya Toshio, the president of APA group. APA group ('Always Pleasant Amenities') operates in the Hospitality industry and runs Japan's APA hotels. Now this Motoya Toshio dude actually is a piece of shit. Aside from being the president of APA group, he's also an essayist who writes and distributes political propaganda touting Imperial Japan's WW2 atrocities as "fabricated stories made to dishonor Japan". He distributes his essays and other material containing historical revisionism through his very influential APA group, so you can see why so many people hate this rotten piece of horseshit.

But that old man in the wedding was not him. As far as we know, the only thing they have in common is that they're both old asian men and that's apparently enough for people to claim they're the same person.

The other supposed "right-wing nationalist" was Madame Dewi, the wife of former Indonesian president Sukarno. According to the smears, her husband was anti-China and perpetuated the genocide against Indonesian-Chinese people, so she in turn must be guilty as well. But the reality is that the one responsible for the genocide was a man named Suharto. Their names may sound similar but these two men were very different. Sukarno, Madame Dewi's husband, was a friend to China and the founder of the Bandung Conference. In fact, a major reason why he was overturned was because of his pro-Communist position. And the very man responsible for it (and eventually replaced him as president) was Suharto, who then launched a bloody genocide targetting Indonesian-Chinese people and anyone he deemed "communist friendly". Suharto's rule was considered to be one of the most violent and corrupt dictatorships of the 20th century.

So what happened here was that Madame Dewi's Baidu page was edited, and her husband's name was changed from Sukarno to Suharto. And this falsified information was what people saw when they went to Baidu to research the validity of the smears. Plus, people were claiming that Madam Dewi was a high-ranking right-wing politician in Japan, when she's actually a celebrity and socialite who is largely uninvolved in politics.

People were also pushing the story that ZZH and Madame Dewi were close because they took a photo together, but it seems they did not know each other at all and she only took a photo with him for her blog (where she then criticized his oufit as being unsuitable for a wedding).

Back to the groom:

So at the height of the controversy, the groom posted an apology letter on his instagram account:

I grabbed this from a reddit post because the groom's IG account is now private and I can't be bothered to install the app again to verify. I don't even remember his username or even the password to my own account, so uh...

Also note that the post contains the misinformation on Nogi Maresuke and the Nogi shrine from the maliciously edited Baidu pages.

This seemingly well-meaning apology ended up indirectly "confirming" the false information surrounding the Nogi shrine and Madame Dewi. "Sorry I didn't research the history of the shrine, sorry I did not know Madame Dewi's political background,"

Apologizing like this seemed to suggest that the falsified info was legitimate. It essentially had the same problem as ZZH's apology letter, which frustrated the fandom at the time as it was such a dumb move and only ended up making it look like he was admitting that the smears were correct. There's speculation that the apology letter was not actually from ZZH (or if it was, he was deliberately counseled in bad faith). The statement he gave months later in the presence of other government officials and Li Xuezheng, where he asserted his innocence, was a much better one.

At the time, it was believed by the fandom that the groom had panicked, and in his haste to defend ZZH, did not have time to fact-check the claims or reach out to a lawyer or PR firm. So while his apology only added to the flames, nobody really held it against him. But recently QV pointed out that the groom is friends with an influencer who had a hand in spreading the smears. The groom follows the influencer on social media and QV says (I have no idea how she knows of this, just keep that in mind) that they are also friends in real life. If true, then it's something to consider. Because the groom's "apology" absolutely did add fuel to the flames, and if he had only clarified—truly clarified—instead of apologizing for things that weren't true and making them look true, it really would have helped ZZH in that moment. And if there is a chance his terrible apology was made terrible on purpose....well.